Music by Meat Loaf

As I grow older, the pop culture icons of my youth die. One by one, with increasing frequency, my idols pass away. And when they go, I am reminded of younger days and I revisit my past.

This was how it was with David Bowie and Tom Petty not too long ago. I heard of their deaths, and I replayed dusty CDs for days.

Most recently, I’ve placed Meat Loaf’s “Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell” on loop. It is what I’m into now.

More than any other album, this group of tracks takes me back. It is desperately angsty. Filled with pain and longing, the songs first hit me at just the right time.

Of course, “I’d Do Anything for Love” is the song that everyone remembers, and not just for its amazing music video. It has some lines that can be shouted out on a long drive alone and other lines that can be tenderly whispered to a lover.

Every song on this disc is a memory though, speaking to a younger version of myself and the up-and-down emotions of a teenaged life.

“Out of the Frying Pan (and into the Fire)” and “Objects in the Rear View Mirror” are a couple of my other favorites to this day. But I even enjoy some of the cringiest parts of the album, such as the spoken word part of “Wasted Youth.” Throughout the album, I’m either singing along or laughing at myself and the seriousness I felt toward this music back then, years ago. In both cases, I’m happy.

RIP, Meat Loaf. You made an album that will stick with me for years to come.

— Erick Peterson, editor,

Hermiston Herald